Category Archives: Food

I love this time of year when wild garlic is in season. The white flowers are really pretty and I love the soft garlicky flavour they produce when cooked; it’s not as strong as the everyday garlic you’ll find in supermarkets. The flowers are not only fantastic with salmon and lamb, but are also great in salads. You can also eat the leaves and the stem, both of which can be used in cooking.

Found near streams, wetland areas, in nature reserves and also funnily enough you will find it growing in woodland areas amongst bluebells. It’s great to be able to walk through the woods and smell the wild garlic.

There’s so much that goes well with wild garlic, but my particular favourites are cooking up a garlic veloute and a small parmesan espuma, parfait! Look out for wild garlic infused dishes at The Vineyard soon.

I am also hosting the Magnificent Seven Dinner on Friday 20th March together with seven of my very best suppliers all providing one ingredient that will be used in each dish.A wild garlic veloute and morels Fricassee is the first course matched with a fantastic Rioja. The garlic is kindly being supplied by Mash Purveyors. Discover more about the dinner and view the full menu online

I’d love to hear all about what your wild garlic recipes so please message me on Twitter @danielgalmiche.

Valentine’s is all about spending time with your loved one, and with many of us having busy schedule, it’s the perfect reason to treat yourself and partner by booking a spa day or evening, having a couples massages, enjoying a romantic dinner for two or Champagne afternoon tea.

Voted the most romantic retreat by the Good Spa Guide, The Vineyard Spa is the ideal place to come for a romantic day with your partner. Relax in the tranquil surroundings and enjoying spending time with just the two of you. We have plenty of spa days and evenings to choose from whatever your budget and the time you have to spare. From our pampering evening where you’ll be treated to a 25 minute treatment, a main course from our spa menu and use of the spa for four hours during the evening to our Ultimate Spa Day, which includes three relaxing treatments of your choice, a Bento Box lunch, light refreshments throughout the day and full use of the spa pool, Jacuzzi, steam, sauna rooms and poolside area.

We are lucky enough to have a couple’s treatment room, perfect for a romantic massage or facial. Choose from our range of Darphin and VitaMan facials and massages, or choose a treatment from our signature selection. Browse our treatment brochure for our full list of treatments.

For 13th and 14th February, our Executive Chef, Daniel Galmiche has created a special five course tasting menu with matching wines and a special sharing dessert for Valentine’s at The Vineyard. This time of year is always popular with our guests, but we do have limited availability. Browse the menu and call us to reserve your table if you’d like to celebrate with us and why not stay the night?

With some many sparkling wines and Champagnes to choose from, which would be your favourite picks for a festive drinks party or as an aperitif on Christmas Day?
For my festive wine recommendations for Christmas Day, I think I’ll play a classic game here and head for Champagne. I’ve always been a fan of the fuller-bodies styles, so Bollinger would be on the hit list, as would Krug subject to lottery winnings! One thing I have tried recently and been very impressed with is sparkling Shiraz (Magpie Estate, Australia). This has enough body to cope with a decent roast dinner, whilst still having all the fun of bubbles…See our wine list for our extensive range of Champagnes and sparkling wines

With the festive season well under way, which varieties of wine are great for mulling and is there a special ingredient you would include?
I guess with mulled wine I would just choose a full-bodied red and keep the price down as you are distorting the flavour so much. Oranges and cinnamon would go into my mix, but I have to say that mulled wine is not quite for me…

Which wines would you be pleased to be given as a Christmas gift?
I’m hopelessly addicted to Riesling, especially that from the Mosel Valley in Germany, so I guess anybody bringing a bottle of Haag, Prüm, or Von Schubert Maximin Grünhaus would be especially welcome! In the wine business, the pros take estate-bottled olive oil to give as gifts. If you’re looking for more gift inspiration, our gift vouchers can be emailed to you instantly. Browse our selection

Are there specific wines or grape varieties that you’d recommend with the traditional Christmas turkey with all the trimmings?
I usually serve red and white concurrently with “event” meals like this, so my red choice would be Pinot Noir-led. This year, I will be pouring Gevrey-Chambertin En Jouise from Domaine Harmand-Geoffoy in the very heart of Burgundy with all that earthy, elegant red fruit intensity. For white wine would head to my beloved Riesling grape, and I think that maybe something from the Alsace region in France would fit the bill admirably. Try a producer such as Weinbach or Zind Humbrecht.

Most Christmas lunches finish with a Christmas pudding, so what dessert wines would you recommend to match?
Tawny Port is a time-honoured classic – try something like Krohn’s 20-year old Tawny. Australian Liqueur Muscat is another choice. However, this year, I’ll be serving the pud with Argyros Estate Vinsanto from Santorini, Greece. The grapes were sun-dried for around 10 days prior to the fermentation starting, then aged for four years in oak. Trust me – it’s sensational… Browse our fortified and Port selection we serve by the glass

The History of Brasseries
The word ‘brasserie’ actually means ‘brewery’ in French. In 1864, Frédéric Bofinger, a brewer from Alsace in northeastern France (the region that border my own, Franche-Comté), made his way to Paris and opened a tiny bar in the heart of the Marais and Fauboug Saint-Antoine area. It served little more than draft beer and sauerkraut. At that time, numerous people were moving to Paris from war-torn Alsace in search of work, so there was a ready market. Beer on tap was unheard of in Paris back then and the quality of the sauerkraut was second to none. The combination took the city by storm and in no time brassieres were springing up all over Paris. The rest of France soon followed, and I think, for this reason, Bofinger could rightly claim to be the father of the Parisian brasserie. What started as a smoky bar filled with Alsatian refugees grew into a magnificent dining room with polished wood, gleaming brass and a stain-glass dome.

Now Fashionable Hotspots
Today, brasseries are fashionable hotspots where politicians continue to rub shoulders with artists- but there is more to them than glamour. Brasseries are popular because the food they serve is homely, heart-warming and delicious. You can eat a simple sandwich or enjoy a grand repas, and they will often serve everything from early breakfasts right through to late suppers in the small hours. Among the famous brasseries in Paris are: Bofinger, La Coupole and Brasseries Lipp, to name by a few. However, no matter where you are, you will find a good meal – and you won’t have to pay a fortune for it either.

Some brasseries in Paris will be modern and chic and some laden with so much history they are practically national monuments. But choose carefully – there are plenty on main streets, but the best ones are often tucked away down side streets and hidden behind porchways.

How many restaurants can boast the illustrious likes of Ernst Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali, Henry Miller, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse among their clientele? Well, La Coupole can. Few people take a trip to Paris without visiting this renowned brasserie at least once.

Pare the zest from the orange into fine strips using a zester or a small, sharp knife, cutting any pith away. Put the zest in a small saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil over a medium heat. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from the heat. Refresh under cold water, drain and repeat this entire process once more.

Using the same pan, return the zest to the pan and add 2 tablespoons of the caster sugar and 3 tablespoons water, stirring to dissolve. Bring to the boil and cook for 4–5 minutes, or until the zest becomes transparent, then leave the zest strips to cool in the syrup. When cold, drain and set aside.

To make the chocolate mousse, put 75g/21⁄ 2 oz of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and rest it over a saucepan of gently simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted, then remove from the heat and keep warm. In a separate heatproof bowl, mix together the remaining sugar, egg yolks and 2 tablespoons warm water. Rest the bowl over the saucepan of gently simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Beat the mixture for 8–10 minutes until it turns pale, thickens and forms ribbon-like shapes when you lift the whisk and the mixture falls back into the bowl. Slowly stir in the melted chocolate until well combined.

In another bowl, whip the cream and icing sugar until soft to medium peaks form, then gently fold it into the chocolate and egg mixture until you obtain a lovely, smooth mixture, taking care not to overwork it. Divide the mousse into four glasses, glass dishes or large ramekins. Cover with cling film and chill for 1 hour before serving. If chilled for longer, remove from the fridge30 minutes before serving.

Just before serving, melt the remaining chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Swirl the chocolate over each mousse, then top with the orange zest and serve.

The word charcuterie comes from the French terms chair cuite ‘cooked meat’. Today, it has come to mean the art and science of the pig – in other words, the butchering, fabrication and preparation of pork – but it is also a term used more generally for all sorts of cold meat, poultry and fish products and dishes.

I remember when I was younger, we used to go down to the local town square for market day every Tuesday and choose our livestock. My family always bought from the same charcutier as Maman and Papa liked his products and he came from near Maman’s village. Several years later, when I was starting my apprenticeship at a hotel in the town of Luxeuil-les-Bains, I learned how to make a few of the charcuterie products I used to eat. It was also a coincidence that Maman and Papa’s charcutier supplied the hotel. During my training I often had to prep the fowls, rabbit, deer or other animals before I started to make a dish. It wasn’t easy, but I was learning – after all, that was why I was here.

One of the most important charcuterie dishes I learned to make was terrine: a mixture of meat, fish, poultry or seafood, packed into rectangular dishes and often cooked in a bain-marie. Usually served in the container in which they are made and accompanied by pickles or even a sauce, they formed part of a buffet display. At The Vineyard, I always have a terrine on the menu and currently it’s guinea fowl and parsley terrine, apricot, chicory, almonds, which seems to be very popular with our guests at the moment.

Another great charcuterie dish I learned to cook was foie gras terrine. This is very popular during the festive season in France. A rare delicacy for food lovers, but a sensitive subject in general, it is made with goose or duck livers. Our pressed confit foie gras, peach, cucumber and ginger ,currently on our a la carte menu, is a dish that is often enjoyed by our guests during lunch and dinner. Our charcutiere boards together with our cheese boards that can be order from our California Bar menu are a great starter or sharing platter to be enjoyed with friends and family.

You’ll find more about the history and the different types of Charcuterie in my first Cookbook, French Brasserie Cookbook, as well as lots of great charcuterie recipes that are extremely tasty and easy to cook at home.

The topic of fish and shellfish is almost as vast as the sea itself and one that I have a particular love for. It’s my favourite subject and section in the kitchen.

When I was younger I remember local fisherman coming to the door every morning with a massive quantity of fish, the quality of which was unbelievable. One of the most popular was sea bass, a very meaty fish with firm flesh, which is equally delicious whether grilled, pan-fried, braised or baked. Versatility and tasty, they are available all year round, although it’s best to avoid them in March to June when they are spawning. Other favourites were sardines, nutritious oily fish, which will grilled or barbequed whole, or made in bouillabaisse and ling, which are perfect for fish pie. These days they are much in demand and therefore over fished, so I only buy them if they are line caught and have them occasionally as a treat.

The sustainability of fish is a big issue these days and one that we need to consider. At The Vineyard, we try to make sure we buy from a sustainable source. It is very important that we find the right suppliers who will provide us with the best possible fish that is also sourced from sustainable stocks. It is all too easy to forget that most species are over fished, and therefore becoming not only expensive, but increasingly rare. So, for, example, we buy hand-dived scallops, not dredged ones, line-caught not net-caught fish, and farmed, but organically reared fish, where possible.

We currently have hand-dived scallops on the menu served with vegetables “à la grecque” and walnuts, and also many other fish dishes; fillet of Cornish cod, Heirloom tomato, ratte potato, chive, fillet of Scottish salmon, aubergine, kumquat, lime and South Coast turbot, girolles, rocket, chicken jus. View our current menu. Our food and wine matching dinners are also proving popular and I have included a particularly lovely turbot dish on the Clarendelle dinner menu on 25th September. Discover more about this dinner

I can’t stress how necessary it is to buy fresh, quality produce from a good source. A fish should be firm to the touch and its skin and eyes should look bright – dullness or discolouration denote it is past its best. And smell it – a fresh fish has clean, not overly ‘fishy’ odour, and sea fish often smell slightly salted or like seaweed. Lobsters and crabs should look undamaged and feel heavy for their size, while shellfish should have tightly closed shells.

I cannot remember a day when there were no herbs in my home or my kitchen, and if such an instance we ever to happen, it would purely be by accident. Would I be able to cook without them? Yes, because I love my trade. Would I like it? Probably not.

It’s very hard to explain how essential herbs are to the cooking process or how profoundly they enhance food, whether added to a salad, meat, fish, vegetables or even a dessert. They have such an important place in the kitchen simply because they bring so much taste, so much scent, so much colour to a dish.

Like everyone, I have a few favourite herbs that I often use. One of them is thyme; one of the most versatile and commonly used herbs in the kitchen. It is especially good with meats such as pork, lamb and mutton because it aids the digestion of fats, and it’s also used in stuffing, ragout, and the all-essential bouquet garni- my standard bouquet garni is made up of a sprig of thyme, a sprig of parsley and a bay leaf.

Another herb I like to use is lavender. Many people do not associate lavender with cooking and are surprised to find it in food, but it is a versatile culinary herb. It is great in meat and poultry dishes as well as desserts. We use it in our specialities at The Vineyard. For example, lavender infused in honey and chilli gives a wonderful flavour to fish dishes.

My favourite herb to cook with is rosemary. Whilst it’s difficult to explain why I love it so much, I suspect it is partly because it is so evocative of my childhood, reminding me of when I would cut it freshly from our garden at home to go in whatever dish Maman was preparing that day.

When mixed with other ingredients, rosemary changes character. It is a great herb, but it’s strength can be lethal, and adding too much of it can make a dish taste bitter. Using rosemary carefully is therefore crucial – but when you succeed, you have a heavenly scent.

Growing a variety of herbs in your very own herb garden, whether in your kitchen or on a balcony, a roof terrace or window sill, is a great idea, especially if you cook a lot. Not only does this allow you to control the quality of herbs you use in your cooking, but it also means you regularly get to use fresh herbs whose flavour is completely different from and far superior to the flavour of shop bought dried herbs.

What you need to know before you go foraging for mushrooms
Before you start to forage for mushrooms you must learn about them as collecting and easting the wrong mushrooms can make you very sick or even kill you. At first go foraging with someone who knows what is edible and what is not. Once you have some experience, you can go on your own, but you should still take a good field guide with you, and always check you’ve picked an edible variety. Prepare the wild mushrooms and wash them well. Slugs, snails and other unwanted inhabitants love them too!

Trompettes de la mort
Generally, trompettes de la mort are common woodland mushrooms resembling black funnels. They are slightly tough in texture and often chopped and added to a sauce or mixed with other mushrooms. They can also be dried. I like these mushrooms for their very earthy flavour.

Girolles or chanterelles
These are funnel shaped and found mainly in hardwood and coniferous forests, especially in older, moss-rich forests, and they are usually picked between June and October. They are an orange yellow colour with a delicate stalk. With their nutty flavour, they are beautiful when pan-fried with herbs and served with pasta.

Ceps
There’s nothing more satisfying than collecting mushrooms, bringing them home and cooking them. I particularly like ceps (called porcini in Italian) with their large, bulbous stalks. They are best eaten young, and are delicious cooked in omelettes or velouté sauces. There are plenty of ceps in Britain – for example, in the New Forest – but they can also be found dried or in jars in oil.

Field and morel mushrooms
There are hundreds of common mushrooms such as button and brown mushrooms, but some of the tastiest include field and morel mushrooms. Field mushrooms are found in summer and autumn in rich, open, manured grasslands grazed by horses or cows, and are white to pinkish grey with a white stem. These were my Maman’s favourite and when I was younger we used to get up at dawn to collect them. They are delicious sautéed in butter and herbs.

Found in springtime, morels are very tasty. Their conical shape has a delightful honeycomb pattern and they have a delicate scent. I like them best cooked with a touch of cream and chopped chives. You can find morels in supermarkets and delicatessens.

Wild mushrooms are readily available during their seasons, and if you don’t pick them yourself you can find them in good supermarkets. They are usually dried in delicatessens and supermarkets all round. The flavour, texture and scent of wild mushrooms are very distinct; cultivated mushrooms are widely available but no match for unique appeal of their wild cousins!

The Chef’s Table at The Vineyard is fantastic for larger groups as it allows everyone to see behind the scenes in the kitchen throughout lunch or dinner from preparation right through to dessert. So whether you’re looking for an exciting way to end a productive meeting, celebrating a birthday or another special occasion, the Chef’s Table is the perfect way to entertain and indulge in food and wine pairing at it’s best.

With fixed cameras fitted to the most interesting areas of the kitchen, guests will be able to watch the chefs in action on large television screens from the comfort of their own seat.

A select number of guests will be lucky enough to get an insight into the workings of a hotel kitchen by joining our Executive Head Chef, Daniel Galmiche and his team throughout the dinner to put the finishing touches to each of the dishes before they are served. Kitchen tours for the whole group can also be arranged so that everyone has a chance to see behind the scenes.

You’ll be treated to a Champagne reception on arrival followed by a seven course tasting menu cooked by Daniel and his team with matching wines for each course chosen by our sommelier team. With over 30,000 bottles in our cellar and 3,000 bins, we have wines to suit every food, mood and palate. Take a peek at our menu that past Chef’s Table parties have enjoyed:

Each guest will receive a signed menu by Daniel Galmiche at the end of the evening to take home as a souvenir of the unique culinary experience. The price per person is £220 per person based on a minimum of 50 people.

Daniel comments on the Chef’s Table: “I really enjoy meeting the guests and inviting them into my kitchen to see all the amazing seasonal produce we use. Being a sustainable restaurant, we only use produce in season sourced as locally as possible. ”

If you are interested in discovering more about our Chef’s Table experience, please don’t hesitate to give our events team a call on 01635 589407 or email events1@the-vineyard.co.uk

For more details on other food and wine experience we can offer, please visit our website